A resident of Manalapan pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton on May 9 to the production of child pornography through the sexual exploitation of a 5-year-old girl, admitting to abusing the girl on more than one occasion and streaming footage of a sexual assault over the Internet, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced.
Jennifer Mahoney, 33, pleaded guilty to an Information charging her with one count of the sexual exploitation of a child. She entered her guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper.
“Today, Jennifer Mahoney admitted that she sexually abused a 5-year-old girl entrusted to her care and then shared recordings of that abuse over the Internet,” Fishman said. “This horrible crime is a stark example of how harmful child pornography is, and how its young victims bear not just the physical and emotional scars of violent sexual assault, but lifelong trauma as others repeatedly watch. Those like Mahoney, who create and feed the market, perpetuate unimaginable suffering for the children they abuse.”
“Ms. Mahoney sexually abused a 5- year-old girl and streamed footage of this abuse to others over the Internet,” Breuer said. “Now that she has pleaded guilty to these reprehensible crimes, she faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. No prison sentence can repair the damage she has caused, or restore the innocence of the child she abused, but she and other child predators should know this: we in law enforcement will use every measure available to us to prevent and deter child exploitation, and to punish men or women who still succeed in committing the kind of horrific crimes to which Ms. Mahoney has now confessed.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: Mahoney admitted that she sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl and streamed the assault live over the Internet via Skype – a video chat service. Mahoney also admitted that on another occasion in 2011, she abused the girl, recorded the abuse on her iPhone, and emailed the video to at least one other person .
Additionally, Mahoney admitted to viewing other videos of child sexual abuse streamed to her using Skype.
Special agents of the FBI and other law enforcement executed a search warrant at Mahoney’s home in Manalapan on Dec. 13, 2011. Law enforcement had previously seized a computer during a search of a man’s Texas home. Subsequent to both searches, law enforcement recovered from the Texas computer three videos of Mahoney having sexual contact with a child.
Two of the videos were of the video chat session, in which Mahoney is shown molesting the child while laughing and talking to someone, apparently the party on the other end of the chat session. The third video depicts Mahoney sexually abusing the child in a bathtub while filming it with her phone.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the charge of sexual exploitation of children carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is currently set forAug. 22. In the interim, Mahoney will remain in state custody on related charges.

